Red Picnic Table

I am not ashamed to admit that I am an incredibly sentimental person. I believe in the importance of remembering what is truly important to you. For me, it is spending time with friends and family. Are there days where I convince myself that only getting lost in a Jersey Shore Marathon will make me happy? Yes. Then, I convince myself that eating Doritos while watching Jersey Shore is perfectly acceptable and will make me happy. The result of this is actually feeling terrible; and it is usually starts by being stressed. So why can’t we get ourselves to go for a walk or a run when we are stressed instead of wondering what the Kardashian’s have been up to? Well, I don’t have an answer for that.

Like I have said before I am no expert, but in my humble opinion it all comes down to self-discipline. We know that going for a walk or doing something we love will actually make us happier than wasting time on Facebook.  It takes a conscious decision. I also believe it takes a conscious decision to spend time on something that has true sentimental value, and something that will bring you back to a time in your life when you felt free. For many, this is childhood.

In my own personal attempt to use my time more wisely, I began working on something that had sentimental value to my husband. When he mowed the lawn for the first time this year, he said “you should do something crafty with that picnic table in the front yard, because it looks terrible”. So I thought hard about it and couldn’t think of anything. Then, I remembered Adam talking about his Grandma and Grandpa Johnson in North Dakota who had a red picnic table when he was a kid.

Adam’s Grandma and Grandpa owned a grocery store in their small North Dakota town. It was called ‘Johnson’s Red Owl’. It was owned and operated by the Johnson family and the Red Owl logo has a lot of sentimental value if you ask any member of the Johnson clan.

Anyway, the main color scheme in the grocery store centered on the bright red color you see in the owl above. Therefore, according to Adam, the color red became very prominent in the family. For instance the deck and picnic table at his grandparents house were also painted red.

Therefore, I wanted to re-create this memory for Adam because, quite frankly, he is a North Dakota boy at heart; and he really misses being close to his family. So I took the old beat up picnic table, and set out to make it look better! You might think that a tutorial is not needed to paint a picnic table, but I will admit that I looked up "How to Paint a Picnic Table" and it was helpul. So if there is anyone out there who is like me, this is for you.

Here is what I used:

-Paintbrushes. Duh. I had to buy new ones and went for a variety of sizes.

-Paint. I opted for this Apple Red Color. Bright! Make sure whatever color you use, that you buy paint suitable for outdoors! This is Indoor/Outdoor and worked just fine.

-Sandpaper. In my case, this was a very old picnic table and needed to be sanded...badly!

Here is what the table looked like before the painting started (ew):

So, the first step is to make sure that you WASH the table. This is very important because of all of the dirt and dust that is all over this baby! (I know, I know, you really needed a picture to demonstrate this right?)

Notice: Here is Mudge reluctantly following directions and staying on the porch!

Then, LET THE TABLE AIR DRY!

Next, sand the table. This was time consuming because I wanted it done right, and I still think it could have been better. (And, I forgot to take a picture AFTER this step.)

Then, start painting. I went to look for a screwdriver to open the paint can and this is what Adam's workbench looked like. Helpful. ;)

Start painting from the top and work your way down. Use different size brushes to get in between the boards on the top. At this point, I was freaking out about how bright red the color was. A little bright for my taste. But, it ended up being very close to what Adam remembers.

Also, make sure you paint underneath the table and underneath the seats. This particular table has a metal frame, and I chose not to paint that. But if you chose to, go from the top, down.

After you have the entire table painted with the first coat, let air dry. It will most likely need a second, and maybe third. I settled with two, but could definately do another coat at any time. I am very happy with how it turned out, and I actually think it looks kind of cool next to our little house. Red may not be your color and may not be the trendiest, but it has such a fun, sentimental meaning that I just love it. And so does Adam.

I like the bright color. It looks even better with the bright blue sky and green grass. What do you think?

Remember, sometimes it takes just one small thing to take you back to a happy place. Take time to remember those sentimental things in your life.

-Be Kind to One Another-